South East Asia Pt.1

A few pages tonight from a book in the works on my travels from South East Asia in 2008-2009, when the hell I will have time to finish this, who knows, but some introductions to the fun filled and mysterious nature of this area of the world that runs the gamut from tropical tourist trap to outlaws walking the street with machine guns.

Off to Phitsanulok today and another town which name escapes me at the moment, been on the road now for about a week, already have puked, drank, and reveled in the New Year's Eve of a Bangkok night, been on the train most of the time with the local folk, everyone on the train is calm, our presence does not appear to causing any sort of panic or curious nature, just more afternoon on a four train to Lom Sak then two more hours by bus to Phitsanulok, but still on the train right now moving through the rice field plains, seems so much of the midlands is submerged, no wonder this country produces so much rice, one and a half foot lakes out to the furtherest reaches of the mountains some twenty kilometers in the distance, stilted house litters these flood plains where workers might sleep during harvesting season or if not during the day where even in January it is pretty hot and fairly humid, lush green tropical jungle hugs the roads, where there are roads and even people, land mass fluctuates with every passing station, where old ladies in head wrap bandanas, dark khaki pants, and thin beige blouses balance large platters of homemade snackfoods consisting mostly of bread buns with a variety of meats inside, rice balls, dried fish, not a very popular product, just from the smell alone that reminds me of a fish cleaning station on any fishing pier in America, thankful the woman passes quickly, barking out today's menu with the verbal cadence that would make any drill instructor wet themselves, no one cares, which is fine with me, not too many stares, people tend to leave me be in Asia, not that they are not curious, the younger ones will check me out, tv boy, americano, that urban myth who has taken journey across their lands like Marco Polo, well, why not, having some fun now after getting through that high fever sickness four days ago, feels like an eternity, let's hear it for the miracles of 7-11 convenience stores and satellite television, there was a time that all the buddhist statues in the country could have not brought me back, but luckily the healing power of eastern meditation saved the day.

Just trying to write about the first week right now jotting stuff down but taking in all the traffic passing me out my window, the action has its ebb and flow, so if that gets tame, there are always the passengers who for the most part are off in their own personal bubbleecs filled with Thai dialouge of which I am very nonproficent, learned to say Happy New Year in Thai as well as I am Thai too, this went over a storm with the locals on New Year's Eve who adopted me as their own son, native son, my land, Thailand, off in the distance their is the occasional Buddha statue and one that had to be 50 meters or so way off into the mountainous horizon, as if peering over the ridge to see what the locals down below were up to at the moment, in his illustrious golden presence taking stock of the human race where ideals met with reality, something to ponder even for the likes of Buddha. Tons of Wats, places of prayer, have talked about them earlier, but in this small glimpse of something I am writing spontaneously, a brief description, golden spiral cone shape buildings painted gold, there are actual prayer temples you can go inside filled with Buddhists statues in various poses and forms representing various aspects of the Buddishts culture, example, there is one that is lying down, another has six arms, and another still is standing with hands clasps, there is most familiar with Buddha sitting in the lotus position, will find tons of the those in the souvenier shops throughout the country. Have to take your shoes off once inside the temple, don't show the bottoms of your feet or touch the head of the Buddha statues, in fact don't touch them at all, serious no no, all that land of smiles stuff they talk about will go out the window, easier to stay in the back, kneel to the ground with feet tucked in behind you and have your piece with the gods, leaving some money for the monks never hurts and a bit of water with food for the gods and ancestors goes a long way here, a sign of respect, people are connected with their past here, their relatives long gone, but some how still by their side in the afterlife or whatever people care to call it. Ancestor worship is huge in most of Asia I have been through which is nearly all of it, incense, long whispered talks in Thai, hands clasped, searching for inner peace in a world seeking to smash it to bit any chance it gets, so the mood is very deep in the prayer temple, serious, yet humble at the same time, where families pray together as the father has a brief conversation with the senior monk of the temple, in their bright saffron, (yellow/orangish) robes, don't think it is mandatory to serve as a monk unless you are in the upper class, royalty, or some other established social enclave, just my observation, but the buddhist culture is everywhere from the postcards of the lead monk of Thailand pinned to the bus driver's sun visor to the random sporadic mini temples lining the yards of almost anybody who can afford to buy them with constant burning of incense, complemented with the previous above mention objects>

The religious nature of the country might be pronounce but it is does not feel forced, almost the opposition, like hey if you want to check this out fine, this is our deal, we embrace our beliefs, feel free to have your own, but if you so desire, step inside the temple and have your time with the elders, no pressure. I have always been a fan of eastern religion anyway, better fit for my mental state, does not mean it is absolute but in most of my travels I have found religion to be a big conduit into understanding the people, the culture, and the historical framework of a nation whether I was in Africa, Europe, or South East Asia, insight is what it is all about, cause at the end of it all, fucking postcards, photos, and blurred out memories are not going to cut it, they are worth something, not much, but something, it are those smaller moments like this one, sitting on this train, reflecting in the calm seas of rememberance, being in those temples was like a stranger, an orphan finding shelter on the stormiest of nights, somewhere I could take down the shield and weaponary of living in the rat race of modern western civilization, some days I can't take it, but knowing I have experience the global wonders of such places like those prayer temples and people, the omniscient gods, and monks, all the faith, powerful energy, holistic, redefining, pilgrimage like, this is what I have taken with me, as my allied, friend, and confidant, this stranger in a strange land, unafraid of all the mystery ahead in the next three weeks, I shall come out the other end of all this epic adventure, changed forever, different, increasing my inability to process my surroundings back home, where everything feels fucked up and worthless, as I live on dollars a day here in Thailand, could I do that back home, jeez a beer costs four bucks, have to cut that out, drugs, no no in Thailand, fine can do without them anyway, for the best, even though I honked down some coke in a bathroom in Bangkok, slight memory of doing that, probably have discussed it in more detail earlier, why get off track, back to the train and the outdoors passing me by.

People getting on and off at every stop, not a local train that tends to stop at every stop, no matter how unpopulated the area might be, which can last forever, can be quite a test, easy on the pocket book, think this trip cost maybe 3 dollars US, very affordable way to get around the country, nationalized for the general public, thankfully this train is an express, so it only stops at the bigger towns, does not mean much, the train blew through towns in a matter of minutes, pull in, stop, unboard, board, then whistle and off we go to the next town, where a new set of women sell their goods, drinks in heavy plastic containers filled with ice, these women must have arms of steel and the calm nature of course outside all the shouting, like a circus carney, I get a bottle of water, cost Ten Baht, something like a quarter, crack open the top, take a sip and fall back into the writing

Lom Sak, got here and like most countries in the world connecting forms of transportation do not always on the same side of town, of course no one let me in on that small matter, have to communicate with the locals, brush up on my Thai language guide book, then let it rip, the biggest obstacle is overcoming the embarrasment, self imposed of course, of sounding like I am screwing up the dialouge, yet ever time local Thais will compliment me on my form, even if they do get a big laugh at my wording, go with it, they do, have to figure out if I can take the local bus which is much cheaper than, the tuk tuk's, which are basically motorcycle taxis who work in legion together to charge the tourist the maximum amount possible, though outside of Bangkok, the tuk tuk drivers have not been too bad, tourist sites exempt, forget it there, they just line up and wait for the hot sweaty anglo euro tourists to form a que to get out of the heat and into an air conditioned bar where there is beer and soft drinks awaiting their arrival. After a bit more questioning with the local train station information personel, a kind lady puts me on board a local city bus heading toward the out of town bus station, completely seperated from the local bus station that is in three different parts of town, only to make things more confusing so this is the time I have to roll with it and trust in the knowledge of others, the bus driver has my back, while tossing my travel gear in the back with all the other bags, sacks of rice, as well as the lonely farm animal, not much to Lom Sak that I can recall, except taking a long fifteen minute journey a city of mopeds, small cars, and children giving me the once over as I hang out the window taking in all the nieghborhood streets, sidewalk vendors or produce, meats, and durable goods, locals diving into the bazaar area with Thai Baht in hand, searching for that perfect carp or green onion, maybe even a piglet or set of socks, plenty of cellphone shops, use to puzzle me before I had international service with my current phone carrier in the states, how readily communication was for everyone in no what third or fourth world country I might be in, what a laugh, here was myself, phoneless, could have bought a local phone, but just did not want to deal with all the encryptic nature of understanding the native tongue in order to figure out how to dial a hostel in the northern part of whatever country I happened to be in at the time, so as all the other UK/Euro tourists walked around on their mobile phones, I could only communicate via email yet not having a cellphone for six weeks was not too bad back then, but today, my work claws at me, being your own boss, means you have to answer the phone,even if it is on a beach in Southern Thailand, chillin on the Nile, or in the mountains of the Andes, global economy plays no favorites, be there, be ready, and if I happen to be abroad, well see you in a couple of weeks.

Everyone looks to be getting off the bus, sure feels like a bus station, thankfully the words are in Thai and English unless, might as well be in Russia, yet, have acquired a small grasp on Cyrillic lately, anyway grab my bag, say thanks in Thai to bus driver, he tells me, I am welcome and points off toward a set of white cubicles enclosed in plexiglass that seemed to be doubling as mini travel agencies representing various bus companies throughout the country, some are a bit more than the others, just depends what level of comfort you are will to accept and what I mean by that is, there are air con buses with plush comfortable seats that recline with very little other people on the bus and on the other side of the spectrum there are the non air con buses with wooden seats piled right on top of each other, where I can barely fit my knees into the sitting area have to put my back under my feet while three other people squash in next to me, of course it is uncomfortable and the ride feels like an eternity, sometimes that is the only bus heading in the current direction, so I have to suck it up and get close with the others, at least until the DVD karoke machine is turned on, sort of their version of our movies on an airplane even though it seems stateside airlines are doing away with onboard movies unless you want to pay for them, so be it. The locals are captivated with the karaoke DVD's like a mellow MTV2 music video show, melodramatic, always involving some guy who has lost his woman or longs to be with her seperated by some unfathomable circumstances as he pleades to the gods to be reunited with her and once in a while the wish is granted, mostly it is the guy next to some lake or river, maybe even in a lush palacial estate next to his Mercedes Benz and who says American culture as not rubbed off in a beneficial way. The women have their say in the music video too, but tends to circle around a man who is out of her social caste or has meandered off into a wondering way with another woman, of course she is the last to find out, yet isn't that like life, insert ironic humor here. Well it is something for the masses to keep them entertained and me focused on the road, besides the karaoke, there are the comedy DVD's that tend to have a greater hold on the bus passengers, if they had to have their choice, put on the comedy DVD, the constant chatter in Thai can really test my patience, only for the fact the dialouge is always exaggerated like the action, sort of where the Three Stooges meets The Office with a bit of America's Got Talent on the side. The main theme always seems to be the drunk husband with the dominant wife, who is always getting on the husband's case for drinking his life and money away with his friends, somehow, one of the guys always ends up cross dressing, related to the husband in a friend like way, not sexual, who knows, lost in translation, either way, pretty soon the old rolling pen starts getting a workout on the guys while the cross dresser eggs the wife on, there you go, pretty much every comedy I have ever seen while in South East Asia, should be thankful I have saved you countless hours scouring the internet to supplant my brief discriptions with a full onslaught of bizarre natured behavior mixed in with the random band or beauty/talent contest, the karaoke is worse, but of course being in film and television, I can spend time techinically breaking down the music videos, a few are well produce, while a others are not much different than those cut your face in or green screen booths that have you sailing on a magic carpet across the strip then the Grand Canyon.

Not too long of journey today, so should be able to get into Phitsanulok before sundown, the ruins are about another hour outside the city by bus, standard route for tourist, most just stay in Phi Lok as it is know to the locals others bus it all the way from Lom Sak depends on what you can tolerate in the accomodation department which varies city to city, town to town, or remote inlet to remote inlet, some place have four star deluxe accomodation for quite a reasonable price, maybe less than 20 US, what might cost a couple hundred in the states, view, hot water, that is a big one, three weeks of cold showers can be trying, turns a person into a real polar bear, run right through Glacier Bay, no problem, shrinkage, not worried about that either, just get under the water, let out that first exhale of shock and clean up. I have fairly solid accomodations according to my travel guide, won't get into the travel too extensively, use it as a compass that is about it, in other travels, leaned on it way too much ended up becoming my cross throughout the entire trip when I could not proper interpet the book, the language phrases, and various other inaccurate bits that left me at times in the middle of nowhere with no clue on what to do next, but that is part of the reason for traveling, is it not?

More Teak homes, two lane road, driver like all bus drivers across the globle have an inherent genetic disposition to put everyone's life at risk at all times possible, use to it now, don't even notice all the near misses and roadside fatalities in our wake, why worry, we have pictures of the King of Thailand and Head Buddhists Monk taped to the front windshields, we are in good karmatic company, this is what we do, tread on the thin wire with no fear of tomorrow, the unknown, and all invisible enemy forces not far off in the distance, we are protected, usual bunch of local travelers, a couple of other Euro tourist who are digesting the trip like myselff in their own personal way, chill time now, have to force myself to take notes in small notes books that fit in my shirt pocket thought they might come in handy when I sat down to write about the trip but of course all my stufff is in storage, including those notebook, so have to free style the story line probably missing all sorts of stuff, yet from what I can recall up to Phi Lok was nothing more than putting in some time on the road, transportation and hopefully sleep take up most of my trip time, depending on how much travel time alloted at the begginning of the adventure as well as how much I am willing to spend on transportation, then factor in lastly that not every location is accessible by all means of bus, car, plane, train, or by foot, there are some places in South East Asia that even Gengis Khan would not attempt to venture toward, just for the fact that when the moonsoon season hits and the dirt roads turn to mud or flood plains, possibly even lakes that some places cannot be reach, such places exist on the border of Thailand and Cambodia, 13 hour jaw smashing, spin crushing knee knockers that have your head bouncing like a bobblehead, non stop, to see some old wat in the middle of nowhere surrounded on everyside like landmines where enemy factions of Thailand and Cambodian armies fight for the rights to this turf that the UN has given to one side, but guns rule the land here, no one is moving an inch, so here come the tourists, wow, gunplay, interesting, wondering who is winning, without the least bit of care, hey let's go check out that abandoned 100mm caliber gun turret I saw in the photobook, if for nothing else just to say you took the trip and have been their, where you can feel cool with other insane travelers who have undertaken the exact journey, swapping humorous stories of pain, frustration, and amazement, a pretty exclusive club, a bit snobbish I admit, still a whole lot of fun, nothing more than another wavelength that some people get and some others don't, yet the ones that do, I never forget.

Phi Lok afternoon, the main heart of the city located near a river, just like so many others in , just run this country, after countless laps around my hotel for the night, there is not much to the city in terms of commerce, only run down buildings with fading paint and half finished roofs, locals wandering the avenues, little kiosks shops selling plastic goods from the lands of China, dinnerware, stuffed animals, so many of the buildings already looked closed for the day or maybe they open at night, night market here is big, maybe because so many people work outside of the local Phi Lok area, find my hotel, multistory place with western amenities such as a snack bar with various little goodies I have come to take for granted in such international chain hotels, but never find interest in consuming, today will be no different, need some time to lay down, get all that travel out of my system, the constant idea of being lost at all times with nothing but internal compass to guide me on my way toward the next destination. It can get quite nerve racking, knowing so little Thai langauge, dealing with tourist touts who only want to take your money and having the general feeling of being nothing more than an ATM machine to the masses of commerce oriented business people who follow me like some capitalistic messiah.

Nothing of the sort here, desire to see this land without being molested for my spending cash, the reality is this will never entirely go away, but while in the midlands away from the large cities the hassle does not resonate so much, can almost walk around town with taxi drivers hassling me for tours of places that I have mapped out long ago. Only thing left to do now is clean up, lay down till sunset, and then take a look around. Night time moped fever, popular choice of teens who are compelled by the same motives as all teens who can afford such things, which is to detail their mopeds Pimp My Ride style with all sorts of additions, rare paint colors, and American skate stickers, all in the quest to get laid, mopeds lined up by the hundreds on a Saturday night, I guess, really have no idea what day it is anymore, gave up caring, the city is empty for the most part outside the influx of teens driving around tonight, small park off to the side lit up in kilometers of Christmas style lights, a picture of the king in the middle of the carnival like lights, no one in the park except a few old couples moving into some unknown direction, been told there are some food spots down by the river, whose base is a few hundred feet below my current location, high end restuarants line the lower parts of the river as if to offer up some sort of exclusive dining experience not found elsewhere in the country, way too dark to find my way down there from this side of the river, there is a paved road on the other side yet not ready for the haggle throwdown with the local taxi drivers, decide to walk down the river a bit further, yet nothing much more than the typical overpriced tourist oriented food places who get mostly out of towners ready to get overcharged for mediocre food, plenty of bars with the same idea, moody, karaoke blasting out the doors, not a soul in sight, opt to head down some of the unexplored streets in town, find a place where all the locals are eating and of course it turns out to be one of the best dining experiences of the trip. I like to case the local places first, see what they are eating, get some ideas, then take a seat, service always tends to be casual, yet friendly, prices always affordable, nothing more than a card table, a plastic chair in what looks to be an old bus station, now merely a series of food stall of various food vendors, set in a lime green haze, part paint, part light, almost feel at home, can relax, have a beer, look around at all the other locals enjoying their meals with friends and family, large bowls of soups, noodle, fresh vegetables, cans of soda, some black and white television playing in the background.

Get my mind started on what exactly I need to have ready for the trip to the Sukothai region that served as a former capital back in the 13th and 14th century, the remains constist of mostly Buddha statues, Wats, and other historical buildings set in a region of lakes. Flip through the guidebook a bit to find out what is worth taking in, looks like the easiest way to get around is by bike, the bus ride a solid two hours, of course, need to catch a local bus to the out of town bus station, after finishing my meal I do some recon in order to figure out where to catch the local bus, hit the night market on my way, check out all the various foods for sell on mini metal carts like those of hot dog vendors or taco salesman, nothing to fancy just plenty of great smells and exotic looking dishes, a couple things worth trying from insects to fresh seafood that in no way appeared to be edible, but tasted delicious, there is not enough time to take in all the people milling around, the burning cooking oil, food smells, small children running past me on either side as their parents busy themselves filling orders, vegetables spread out like artists pallet, no in more than a square block, all the action is going down here, plenty of picnic style sitting to relax, enjoy some food, then look around at all the local fruit, weird shaped things that look more like mutated hybrids, all I could do was walk around, get a fruit shake with all these unfamiliar fruits inside and enjoy the pure sugar rush to the brain, while other people, ripped apart pieces of freshly fried duck, chicken or any other animal too slow to run from the butcher's blade.

Turning in early tonight, no much night life in this town outside the night marker and they usually wrap things up around`12a, just beer drinking type of stuff, no discotechs, not what I am looking for out here, heading out for the historical trip thing this early in the adventure, takes a few solid weeks of historical artifacts before it becomes to do something different, ranging from big city night life to a remote jungle hideout with nothing more to do than wake up, walk down the river, bathe, then sit out in the sun all day. Try not to watch television even though this place has all the channels for western entertainment, maybe catch up in the sports department but not for now, have to get up real early to get out to Sukothai by 10am, then hike around 3 to 4 hours, much more time than that in the sun, starts to make my stupid, brain overheats, become too lethargic, should be able to see all the main artifacts in that window.

Free breakfast down in the lobby, have to store my gear, cause I am taking a late bus out of Phi Lok to Lom Sak,, then onto Khon Kean was hoping to get near the Laos border within the next couple of days to save some time, plan on treking through most of Laos, starting in Vientiane all way down to the southern border with Cambodia that follows the might Mekong River, but for now put down the Thai version of breakfast, consisting of rice, a few other local dishes, there is the americano style breakfast too with cereal, eggs, and bacon, but none of it looks edible and getting food poisoning or diarehha on the road is all too real of an incident, better to play it safe, go with what the locals can handle, off for the bus station not soon after, climb on board, offer up my ticket, then go to sleep for a while, if only to speed up the process of arrive at Sukothai.

Sports show on the movie player this time, bores me, back to sleep, other people get into the show, people begin to board the bus more frequently as the final destination of the bus is some larger city a few more hours past Sukothai. At the end of all the driving in an attempt to sort of figure out where I would get off, v ery little information came to my attention, almost got off at the wrong bus stop onto another bus, someone must have figured out I had no idea where I was headed and quickly steered me back to the original bus, not too sure, just got back on board even after everyone else had exited the bus, paralysis nearly sets in, only cure, go grab some snack in the food shop, then stand around a bit, take in the outpost in the midst of nowhere, pretty much where I like to be even if it seems paranoia and frustration ooze from my pours, this is due to the lack of control, unless my Thai langauge mastery improved a million fold, don't think it would matter much, this is still rural Thailand, more livestock and rice fields than human activity today, nothing more than a few folks passing between town, relatives, and possibly jobs. Already hot today, humid somewhat from all the water around us. End up at a bus stop on the side of a dirt road, ultra mega bike shop to my right as the bus takes off toward nowhere, here I am, is this it? Appears to be a some old buildings in the distance, Sukothai is not really a place one can walk around the buildings and ancient sites are spread throughout grounds, well made for tourist buses and the alternate bike riders who don't mind the sun and the exercise, most of the Euro tourists opt for the bus tour, not much more than driving a lap track full of old historical buildings, the buses keep moving offering only moments of rest where commerce is involved, insert here, snack shops and souvenier stands. My first hurdle is negotiating a rate for the next few hours in getting a bicycle, there are hundreds of them and no matter how much, some assistant from the back comes out and preps the bike as if it was emerging from the racing pits of an overpaid high end mechanical crew, the ride always has some sort of defect, the perpetually lowering seat, unloosened handlebars, and failing any of the other trappings like flat tires, busted chains, or bent rims, within a matter of thirty minutes my tailbone will have gone completely numb from all the dirt roads, rock piles, and the general force of gravity pushing down on a seat made from steel springs and no padding.

Getting past all that I get some general directions, heading out with a couple other people, company is never to bad, have my own pace, but why not hang about, start down the road with a very narrow shoulder and a high rate of cars that aim for me like any sort of potential road kill making its way down the side of a highway, of course the grounds are on the otherside of the road, at least the entrance, one way in, one way out, which commences in a head on run toward a series of oncoming tourists buses with vengeful drivers who have nothing but anger in their hearts, leaning ever so subtly into the bicycle lane, if there even is such a thing out here, mopeds, forgot about them, they'll squeeze you off into the dirt too to keep from being plowed down by the buses and the large truck, demolition derby at its finest, nothing left to do but pedal for my life, look forward, and go for self, which puts me some distance from the others, fine, better to hang about on my own, get to the gate, where the guards, want to check everything from my passport to color of underwear, they need something to do, then point me over to the tourist ticket office where they charge me ten times as much as the locals to enter the park, afterward I have to go back, let the guards stamp my tickets, keep everything official channels, just in case there is a massive invasion upon the Sukothai grounds, must be these two knuckleheads, looking to work out on me a bit, cause their job gives them that kind of opportunity, over it, soon enough on my bike riding toward some statue of note, nothing really of historical value, serves as a marker to find all the other buildings, have to watch from all angles when riding by bike here, the mopeds, cars, and buses, yield to no one at best I am a victim here, nothing more, why get excited about, take some arty photos of the statue covered in some blossoming pinkish flowers, then head off toward a series of buildings that served as royal headquarters or some various religious temple, most of the sites have been leveled quite a bit, merely skeletons their former glory, destroyed by invading armies over the centuries that came in and leveled the city into rubble over successive generations, most of the Buddha statues have been worn away from history, erosion, or general vandalism, rows of faceless, limbless, stone carvings, a tore up army of eternity struggling for recognition, but in comparison to other former capitial cities Sukothai is in better condition, probably due to all the surrounding water.

Here are a few photos of some Buddhas:

The photos give a better feeling of just how enormous everything in the old Sukothai capital was built, made for Buddhist divinity, no mistaking the large amount of renovation, competely necessary though may make for quite the overall feel of antiquity at least Thailand cared enough about its history to attempt to preserve some of it, many other countries have faired quite poorly in this department, a majority of the statues had the saffron colored robes on them, plenty of tributes, incense, and various forms of praise laid all about the statues, no matter how badly some of the smaller Buddha statues had been damaged, there had been effort to reinstate the Sukothai ruins to its original state, broken arms, heads, toros were piled up to various rows of statues lining the larger more prominate Buddhists monuments, sort of like a maze of artifacts.

The above photos were the most intact ruins, things started to thin out into smaller areas, more rundown locations that turned into not much more than a casual ride down dirt paths under large trees covering the small lakes below.

Hope the pictures add a bit, writing this material now over a year ago without my notes has been quite a challenge, nothing really intense here except the antiquity and history of the grand Thai culture that feels as isolated as the region must have felt centuries ago, longer, to the point where the Kingdoms of this period stretched in the countries of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Burma, the migration of the Buddhists religion which seems to have quite a few similarities to the Hindu religion that is just my opinion. It was real easy to get lost out here in this former capital, of course, have to get around the tourist nature of this excursion, of something to see, something to do, and experience to be stacked up against many other experiences in this country and beyond, but getting out here to Sukothai in the first place sums up a lot of what I am about, consisting of moving beyond comfortable travel parameters, seeing what all the various cultures add to in the overall culmination of the human race, and finally to remove myself from the safe comfortable womb of American culture, this experiement on myself, brings plenty of times where I am not sure what to do next, comfortable hardly, but continuously intrigued of my surroudings, no doubt, my main motivator to continue forward, no matter how far from reality things might get, there is always something on the other end, another fellow traveler, another half drunken bus ride, or unique piece of life that allows me to adjust, enjoy, and embrace the cultures of the world, a far more rewarding experience than most people of this planet get to enjoy.